140 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Genus OCHTHODROMUS, or Red=breasted Ringed Plovers. 



Type, OCHTHODKOMUS WILSONI. 



Ochthodromus, of Eeichenbach (1852). The birds comprising the present 

 genus are characterised by having a chestnut band across the breast, mixed with 

 black in 0. wilsoni, and the culmen about equal in length to the middle toe and 

 claw. The hind toe is absent. The wings are long and pointed. The birds 

 forming this genus are obviously closely allied to the typical Einged Plovers, but 

 they are all larger, and have a much stouter bill. 



This genus contains eight species and races, distributed over most parts of the 

 world with the exception of Western Europe, Western Africa, the southern limits 

 of South America, and the Pacific Islands. One species is a very rare abnormal 

 migrant to the British Islands. 



The Bed-breasted Einged Plovers are dwellers on sandy plains, grassy uplands, 

 the banks of rivers, salt lakes and inland seas, and the coasts of oceans. They 

 are birds of rapid and sustained flight, and run and walk with ease. Their 

 notes are shrill and monotonous, and they subsist upon insects, crustaceans, sand- 

 worms, &c. Their nests are slight, mere depressions in the ground, and the eggs, 

 pyriform in shape and three or four in number, are double spotted. They 

 are monogamous and gregarious, especially during the non-breeding season. 



